16 Jun2015
Written by Ruth Hoyt. Posted in Blog, Botanical
It’s late, the evening of June 15th, National Nature Photography Day! I went out awhile ago with my iPhone 6+ and was delighted to discover one of the first Night-blooming Cactus of the season. It was only 8:45pm, but it was in full bloom! I’m attaching a photo I took of it, hand-held, with my phone camera. It’s somewhat noisy and I could probably do a better job with my DSLR, but I wanted to enjoy the moment of discovery more than I wanted another photograph of a night-bloomer. I’ve got a yard full of these cacti and look forward to seeing them bloom the next several weeks!
NOTE: Be sure to click on the image to see the full-sized view of the photo.
Night-blooming Cactus Blossom
19 Apr2015
Written by Ruth Hoyt. Posted in Birds, Blog
I was photographing in misty, drizzly weather at the Laguna Seca Ranch Friday morning. A Long-billed Thrasher came along and, from below, eyed a cactus near the water hole. I aimed at the top of the pads, hoping I’d catch the right moment. As it leapt up I fired away. When I saw the results, the bird’s pose reminded me of Darth Vader but with the wrong color cape and eyes. Click on the image to see the entire photo.
Darth Vader, is that you?
18 Apr2015
Written by Ruth Hoyt. Posted in Blog, Botanical
During the mid-day break from guiding, I picked up some lunch to go and drove home. To my surprise, my Pitaya cacti, also known as strawberry cactus, were in full bloom! I knew if I spent time getting out my DSLR camera, I would take too long before getting back to guiding, so I used my iPhone 6+ to take several photos. Here is just one of my favorite images; click on the image to see the complete photo. Each year my Pitayas have a bigger presence in my yard; for several years I’ve been collecting them, with permission, from friends’ ranches.
Pitaya Cactus blossoms
13 Apr2015
Written by Ruth Hoyt. Posted in Birds, Blog, Insects
Last week I had planted an attractive section of Prickly-pear Cactus with blossom buds in the sand in front of one of the Laguna Seca Ranch’s photo blinds. I hoped a bird would pose as it looked through the curve of the cactus pad, and it happened yesterday morning. What I didn’t expect was the honeybee to come along at the same time as the Long-billed Thrasher. When I inspected the photo, the bonus bee was sharp!
